All was quiet... til Friday.
This week has gone by in a blur. This week I made "Special Spaghetti" (homemade sauce) on my own, instead of using Ivy and Addie's cafe. While I made dinner, Ivy played "vacation at the beach" in the living room with a sunhat and blanket. We had our Monday Reading Party, featuring Ivy reading a graphic-novel chapter book based on the game Minecraft. I really do not care for that book, but on our reading parties we take turns reading books, so I picked a Beatrix Potter book that I like.
Our biggest activity was on Friday: Crystal Digging. We visited the Salt Plains in Jet, Oklahoma to try our luck... the only lucky ones were the teens, but everyone had a good time overall. I felt lucky finding exactly 4 shovels at $8 a piece at the Dollar General near my office - they didn't have any hand shovels, but as they say, "You win some, you lose some." I made sure to pack the essentials the night before, knowing I would come up with more "essentials" before we left in the morning. With some tips from a friend who recently made the trip, I packed sunscreen, a change of clothes, a towel, snacks, sand buckets, wire baskets (in case we were able to sift crystals out of the mud), and two frozen gallons of water.
We woke up around 6AM, got out of the house around 6:45, then spent half an hour picking out donuts and car snacks. So, a bit later of a start than I had originally planned, but still making good time. A little construction and one potty break extended our trip by a bit, and it ended up taking 3 hours when Google Maps had estimated 2 hours and 15 minutes. But still, everyone was in good spirits!
We get there to find a maze of potholes (that would fit about 15+ pots!). Surviving the potholes was a tricky feat, but we made it out alive only to find out that the digging area was not the beautiful salt plains we saw on our way in, but a dirty, dug-up mess of other people's holes. No problem, at least their holes give us a good starting base! Everyone still in good spirits.
We start digging. For 2 hours we dig. The teens happen upon a particularly rich bed of crystals, while Kenny, Addie and Ivy wind up with only a couple crystals and some rocks. The sun was bright, we were all muddy and sandy and salty, and it was hard work - but at least it wasn't sweltering hot. Everyone was STILL in good spirits!
We changed clothes, had a snack, and got in the car. Sand. was. everywhere. And still is! Everywhere except in the front passenger seat, where I sat. Apparently I am the only one who thinks about things like that. But it's okay! Expecting a miserable family trip, I had already promised lunch at the teen's favorite fast food restaurant - it turned out not to be necessary to motivate (bribe) them into good behavior, so I felt like it was a reward for everyone having a great attitude that day.
We made it home around 3:30, had lunch in the garage then showered and watched Howl's Moving Castle (Ivy's pick) with some popcorn and M&M's. The rest of the family joined us not long after we started, which was really nice. Ivy has that magical charm that brings people together, so I can't say that I'm surprised that despite inviting everyone, despite them all saying "nah..." in the most polite way, Ivy still radiated that Coming Together spirit that brought everyone to the living room with us.
Saturday, we have a nice, lazy morning. Kenny made eggs, bacon, and toast for everyone (inspired by a scene in Howl's Moving Castle), and then we realized that Kenny's grandparents would be visiting us in about two hours! I was a little hesitant when G.G first mentioned earlier this week about coming to visit to have Kenny do their taxes, but she is not a woman you mess with. Plus, she had been pretty good about quarantine for the last six weeks, so it was a calculated risk we decided to take. So I enlisted all three kids to help clean, while Kenny went to work to meet his grandparents and get the groceries for lunch. The kids were AMAZING! Not one complaint, not one half-ass'd job, and when they had completed their individual chore list, the kids even started helping out with other tasks! I told Kenny to pick them up a treat for such a great job.
The grandparents visited for a few hours; Kenny made delicious philly cheesesteaks. The kids got some great outside time, playing with the new yard games that their G.G. brought with her. Ivy cajoled us into playing HedBanz, which was nobody was really into at the start, but as I said - Ivy has a magical charm about her, and everyone ended up having a good time with the game. It was actually the perfect game for who was playing - Ivy really enjoys the game, it's wordy/sneaky enough for the teens to appreciate it, and the simplicity of game-play enough for the grandparents to catch on without any effort.
After the grandparents left, Ivy and I went for a walk. We popped in on a neighbor, as Ivy wanted to say hello to a friend. She hasn't been able to play with any other kids her age since the COVID pandemic started, but I told her she could say hi - just no touching/hugs. Her dad and I had a nice chat when he came out to say that Ivy's friend was visiting her grandparents, and we were respectful of each other's differing views on social distancing. About halfway through the walk, Ivy starts complaining and doesn't stop until I tell her that I'm hot too, but it isn't fun if we just complain, so we need to find pleasant things to talk about. She recovered from my whiny lecture just in time to say a couple of nice things before arriving back at the house.
We are just about to finish up our rest-mode. I am going to try and find a way out of a movie with Ivy tonight - I'm just not feeling it. I think she'll agree that ice cream and the Happy Family Game is a good replacement. She loves the HFG. It is a book of simple, silly, and thoughtful questions to help the family get to know each other better, and to have fun together. It has questions like, "What do you like to do on rainy days?" and "Sing Happy Birthday in rounds!". It's a great book for when you need a little inspiration for a low-energy activity. It's on Amazon here, but I got mine from a thrift store 😄
(I am just a regular person, recommending a book I like. I don't get money for this or anything fancy.)
Our biggest activity was on Friday: Crystal Digging. We visited the Salt Plains in Jet, Oklahoma to try our luck... the only lucky ones were the teens, but everyone had a good time overall. I felt lucky finding exactly 4 shovels at $8 a piece at the Dollar General near my office - they didn't have any hand shovels, but as they say, "You win some, you lose some." I made sure to pack the essentials the night before, knowing I would come up with more "essentials" before we left in the morning. With some tips from a friend who recently made the trip, I packed sunscreen, a change of clothes, a towel, snacks, sand buckets, wire baskets (in case we were able to sift crystals out of the mud), and two frozen gallons of water.
We woke up around 6AM, got out of the house around 6:45, then spent half an hour picking out donuts and car snacks. So, a bit later of a start than I had originally planned, but still making good time. A little construction and one potty break extended our trip by a bit, and it ended up taking 3 hours when Google Maps had estimated 2 hours and 15 minutes. But still, everyone was in good spirits!
We get there to find a maze of potholes (that would fit about 15+ pots!). Surviving the potholes was a tricky feat, but we made it out alive only to find out that the digging area was not the beautiful salt plains we saw on our way in, but a dirty, dug-up mess of other people's holes. No problem, at least their holes give us a good starting base! Everyone still in good spirits.
We start digging. For 2 hours we dig. The teens happen upon a particularly rich bed of crystals, while Kenny, Addie and Ivy wind up with only a couple crystals and some rocks. The sun was bright, we were all muddy and sandy and salty, and it was hard work - but at least it wasn't sweltering hot. Everyone was STILL in good spirits!
We changed clothes, had a snack, and got in the car. Sand. was. everywhere. And still is! Everywhere except in the front passenger seat, where I sat. Apparently I am the only one who thinks about things like that. But it's okay! Expecting a miserable family trip, I had already promised lunch at the teen's favorite fast food restaurant - it turned out not to be necessary to motivate (bribe) them into good behavior, so I felt like it was a reward for everyone having a great attitude that day.
We made it home around 3:30, had lunch in the garage then showered and watched Howl's Moving Castle (Ivy's pick) with some popcorn and M&M's. The rest of the family joined us not long after we started, which was really nice. Ivy has that magical charm that brings people together, so I can't say that I'm surprised that despite inviting everyone, despite them all saying "nah..." in the most polite way, Ivy still radiated that Coming Together spirit that brought everyone to the living room with us.
Saturday, we have a nice, lazy morning. Kenny made eggs, bacon, and toast for everyone (inspired by a scene in Howl's Moving Castle), and then we realized that Kenny's grandparents would be visiting us in about two hours! I was a little hesitant when G.G first mentioned earlier this week about coming to visit to have Kenny do their taxes, but she is not a woman you mess with. Plus, she had been pretty good about quarantine for the last six weeks, so it was a calculated risk we decided to take. So I enlisted all three kids to help clean, while Kenny went to work to meet his grandparents and get the groceries for lunch. The kids were AMAZING! Not one complaint, not one half-ass'd job, and when they had completed their individual chore list, the kids even started helping out with other tasks! I told Kenny to pick them up a treat for such a great job.
The grandparents visited for a few hours; Kenny made delicious philly cheesesteaks. The kids got some great outside time, playing with the new yard games that their G.G. brought with her. Ivy cajoled us into playing HedBanz, which was nobody was really into at the start, but as I said - Ivy has a magical charm about her, and everyone ended up having a good time with the game. It was actually the perfect game for who was playing - Ivy really enjoys the game, it's wordy/sneaky enough for the teens to appreciate it, and the simplicity of game-play enough for the grandparents to catch on without any effort.
After the grandparents left, Ivy and I went for a walk. We popped in on a neighbor, as Ivy wanted to say hello to a friend. She hasn't been able to play with any other kids her age since the COVID pandemic started, but I told her she could say hi - just no touching/hugs. Her dad and I had a nice chat when he came out to say that Ivy's friend was visiting her grandparents, and we were respectful of each other's differing views on social distancing. About halfway through the walk, Ivy starts complaining and doesn't stop until I tell her that I'm hot too, but it isn't fun if we just complain, so we need to find pleasant things to talk about. She recovered from my whiny lecture just in time to say a couple of nice things before arriving back at the house.
We are just about to finish up our rest-mode. I am going to try and find a way out of a movie with Ivy tonight - I'm just not feeling it. I think she'll agree that ice cream and the Happy Family Game is a good replacement. She loves the HFG. It is a book of simple, silly, and thoughtful questions to help the family get to know each other better, and to have fun together. It has questions like, "What do you like to do on rainy days?" and "Sing Happy Birthday in rounds!". It's a great book for when you need a little inspiration for a low-energy activity. It's on Amazon here, but I got mine from a thrift store 😄
(I am just a regular person, recommending a book I like. I don't get money for this or anything fancy.)
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